The First Step
by Verran
Summary: Set after Fragments - The Mario Brothers have grown apart since their clash with Dimentio at Castle Bleck. They haven't seen each other in nearly two years. But an unexpected rescue mission brings them face-to-face once more, with earth-shattering results. Co-written by DarkFoxKit and Verran.
1. Prologue

**Introduction**

**The seeds of this story were sown back in November, when DarkFoxKit contacted me about the possibility of writing a sequel to Fragments. At the time, I hadn't planned to write anything further on it and couldn't really see where else the plot could be taken. But DarkFoxKit showed me a plot-point from Fragments which still had potential for further development, and so we decided to go ahead and see what we could come up with. The result is _The First Step,_ a medium-sized fic which we can guarantee will be completed, as we are wrapping up the epilogue at the moment! **

**Two-way collaboration on writing is a new challenge for me, and so I'd like to thank DarkFoxKit for showing me the way. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.  
**

**Fragments ended on the night before Luigi's Mansion 2 Dark Moon. This story is post-Dark Moon, so be warned there are some spoilers if you haven't played the game.**

* * *

**The First Step**

**By DarkFoxKit and Verran**

* * *

**Prologue**

The wooden television set in the corner of the room switched on with a quiet click. Had anyone been sitting in the single armchair in front of it, this would have unnerved them, for the T.V. had no remote control. But no-one was there to see the black and white patterns streaking across its screen, or hear the otherworldly whispers and screams crackling from its single speaker. The television seemed to have a mind of its own.

Moments after it had flickered into life, its sound faded. Then the screen glowed brighter, bathing the shabby furniture and bookshelf-lined walls of the room with its eerie light. A blinding white beam shot from the screen into the room and splintered into countless shimmering pixels, which swirled around one another until they came together in a human form. The glowing man hovered just above the carpeted floor, frozen in a cowering posture as if being held there by some invisible force. Then without warning, the glow faded and he stumbled as his feet hit the ground.

With a groan, he reached for the armchair to steady himself, his other hand feeling his head to make sure his green cap was still on.

The T.V. brightened again and sent out a second arc of light. He turned to watch the glowing dots merge in the air to form the shape of his brother, who, once solidified, dropped face first onto the floor. He shook his head at the sight. "It is not good, this pixel-shifting," he said, his words rolling together in a soft, Italian accent.

The second man grunted and looked up. "You don't say," he said, a note of sarcasm in his voice. "I think I prefer being trapped inside of the painting." He picked up his red cap from the floor and got to his feet. At his full height, he barely reached the other's shoulder, but what he lacked in stature, he made up for in bulk. His eyes darted about the dimly lit room, his bitter expression causing the taller man to shuffle and stare at the floor. "Well, Luigi," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, "you'd better draw me a map. I guess I'd better go, now."

Luigi swallowed, his eyes still fixed downwards. "It is late," he said, "and I have a spare room. If you are sick again, like last time…"

"That was last time, and it was because of the professor's stupid portrificationiser. It spun me around like crazy. That dark-light torch thing you used was a much better way to get me out of the painting. This time, I am okay." The shorter man forced a smile across his pallid features.

"It's still a long way home, Mario."

The two stood in silence, avoiding one another's gaze.

At last, Mario gave a cordial nod. "Okay," he said. "Thank you."


	2. The Morning After

**The Morning After**

* * *

As sunrise neared, Luigi rolled over in bed, his eyelids feeling like sandpaper over his eyes. Every time he'd tried to sleep, he'd be back among the abandoned buildings of Evershade Valley, surrounded by its luminous ghosts. In his half-conscious dreams he could feel the weight of the Poltergust 5000 on his back, and the force of the ghosts pulling against its suction until his limbs jerked so hard he would wake with agonising cramps.

For most of the night, he'd resigned himself to laying awake, listening to his brother sleeping in the spare room. The last time he'd rescued Mario from King Boo's clutches, Luigi had lain awake all night, buzzing with elation and relief that he'd found him still alive. This time, it was different. Now that the initial euphoria and adrenaline had faded, he felt nothing. He wondered how he'd have felt if he'd failed to rescue Mario this time. Would he have even cared?

Luigi put his feet to the floor and stretched, pulled on a dressing gown and headed downstairs to the kitchen. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was earlier than Mario would have liked to have been woken, but Luigi didn't want him staying here any longer than he needed to. He boiled the water, poured a coffee for his brother, counted the four sugars into the mug and stirred. It was a simple task he'd performed a thousand times before, but this morning it felt surreal, almost nostalgic, somehow…

_No_. He shook his head, telling himself not to be stupid. How could he ever go back? He was a different person now, released from the bonds of Mario's suffocating protection, freed from the insecurities that had suppressed him nearly all his life. But it had all come at a cost. For the same hypnotic processes responsible for his inner release had first been used to manipulate him into working as an assassin. Even though it had been years ago, the memories of his time as Mr. L still haunted him. He couldn't forget the compulsion he'd felt to murder Mario… couldn't stand the guilt at not feeling any guilt...

Last night, when he'd rescued Mario from King Boo in Evershade Valley, had been the first time they'd met in in almost two years. He knew he should have been pleased for his brother's company, yet still, he couldn't look Mario in the eye.

He picked up the coffee mug and took it upstairs, then stopped outside Mario's door, listening to the even snores from within. He knocked gently, then a little louder, but Mario didn't stir. In the end, Luigi crept into the room, and set the coffee down on Mario's bedside table.

Mario looked as pale as he'd been last night, when Professor Gadd had transported them back here through his Pixelator. He wore a troubled expression as he slept, and the rumpled bedcovers barely covered him to the waist. Mario's night had been more fitful than Luigi had realised.

He reached out to Mario's bare shoulder, guilt making him hesitate for a moment. Mario needed his rest, but Luigi needed him to leave.

"Mario." Luigi placed a hand on his brother's arm. "Wake up."

He hadn't expected Mario to jolt up so quickly, and he had to dodge backwards to prevent their heads from clashing. Mario looked around, his face sweating, and then relaxed. The dream he'd woken from must have been harrowing, no doubt, but Luigi hadn't roused Mario to talk about dreams. He picked up the mug he'd set down earlier.

"Here," he said, "I made coffee."

Mario stared at him, as if on the verge of saying something important, but instead, he took the mug and mumbled a 'Thank you'.

Perplexed, Luigi stood back. He'd always found it easy to read Mario's moods, but right now, Luigi couldn't tell what it was that he was thinking. "I… I will let you get dressed," he said, when it became clear that Mario wasn't going to say any more.. "I can make breakfast."

"No." Mario shook his head. "Coffee will do."

Luigi nodded, relieved at the decision. He left for his own room and dressed as quickly as possible; he didn't feel comfortable having Mario poking around downstairs on his own.

It was as well that he'd hurried. He had barely entered the lounge before he heard Mario's heavy footsteps on the stairs. Sure enough, Mario appeared in the doorway just behind him, his half-empty coffee mug in his hand. Luigi wasn't sure if he was waiting for an invitation to come in or not.

"You were going to give me a map," said Mario.

"Oh. Oh, yes." Luigi rushed to the bureau in the corner of the room and rummaged in the drawer for paper and a pencil. It was a long distance to Toad Town, but a few warp pipes along the way would speed the journey. He drew out the diagram as fast as he could; he could almost feel Mario scrutinising the room behind his back.

When done, Luigi turned to see Mario's eyes flitting from the T.V. set to the bookcases, to the poster on the wall showing the location of the original haunted mansion in Boo Woods. He cringed as Mario's gaze settled there, his brother's frown making him feel even more uncomfortable.

They glanced at one another and looked away, the silence in the room broken only by the wind outside.

"You do know that you'll have to go and make a report to the Chief of Security about King Boo's escape, right?" said Mario. "That will be a cause for concern back in Toad Town."

Of all the things Luigi had expected Mario to say, that wasn't one of them. "I don't… want to go back." he said.

Mario gave him a piercing stare. "But if you don't, then you won't be able to live in peace. The Toads, they'll come looking for you, demanding answers. You know the law. It would be better if you just go ahead and talk to them now before it gets to... that point."

"Oh… I see…" The thought of Princess Peach's security forces coming to find him hadn't occurred to Luigi, and nor had the possibility of arrest. He felt a sudden desire to take the treasure he'd collected from his quest in Evershade and flee the kingdom for good. It was already bad enough that Mario had discovered where he lived. He pushed his map into Mario's hand in exchange for the now-empty coffee mug.

With a nod of thanks, Mario folded the paper away into his pocket. He looked at the floor, the peak of his cap obscuring his eyes. "I... just wanted to let you know," he said, "just thought you might've wanted to come back for a short visit, is all." Mario paused, as if waiting for a reply. Then without another word, he departed, leaving Luigi alone in the house with the coffee mug still warm in his hands.


	3. The Way Back

**3\. The way back**

* * *

The longer Luigi procrastinated, the more irritated he became. Mario was right, of course. If he didn't go to Toad Town to make his report, sooner or later the Toadish authorities would come for him, and he knew that wouldn't be pleasant.

He'd left it fifteen days now, and as he locked up the front door to his house, Luigi couldn't help but shudder. He had no problem with fulfilling his duty. It was just that going back to Toad Town meant complications. He'd been away too long for there not to be a fuss. There'd be too much attention. Knowing the Toads, they'd probably want to throw a party in his honour. He couldn't think of anything more depressing. Except the likelihood of seeing Mario.

_Mario._

Lowering the peak of his cap against the dappled morning sun, Luigi began the reluctant trudge along the woodland path towards the first warp pipe of his journey. Why _hadn't_ he been able to read Mario the way he could in the past? Had he really become so out of touch with his brother's ways since they'd been apart? Even if he had, it was clear that something hadn't been right with Mario's behaviour. Luigi had expected Mario to plead with him to come back and live in Toad Town again. But he hadn't. The most he'd dared mention was the possibility of a short visit. And it hadn't even dawned on Luigi until a few days after Mario had left, that for the short time he'd stayed, Mario hadn't spoken a single word to him in Italian. Why was that?

He chided himself for even worrying about it. Ever since he'd recovered the memory of his past experiences as Mr. L, achieving fluency in English had become his own personal challenge. After all, during his time as Mr. L, he'd spoken better English than Mario ever could - something Luigi felt a quiet pride about.

Perhaps, by not speaking Italian, Mario had been encouraging him in that sense. The thought angered Luigi. The one thing he'd tried to get away from was Mario's constant assistance and protection. The more he thought about it, the more resentful he felt. Mario wasn't even here and he was still getting on Luigi's nerves.

At least Professor Gadd hadn't bothered him much, since. As the only friend and contact from his 'former' days, Luigi had found the eccentric old man to be good company. He would often sit in his armchair and chat to Gadd through the communications channel on his Pixelator terminal, which Gadd had built to resemble a T.V. set.

As he emerged from the woodland that hid his home, Luigi had no greater wish than to be able to use the Pixelator now; to pixel-shift straight into Toadsworth's office without anyone noticing him. As unpleasant as the Pixelator was, stealth was among its advantages. He smiled as he imagined the princess's elderly advisor jumping out of his skin each time someone materialised in front of his desk. Of course, Toadsworth would never have a terminal installed in a million years. Shaking his head, Luigi conceded that perhaps it was better to just enjoy the walk through the sunny countryside at his own pace.

By the time he climbed onto the edge of the final warp pipe of his journey, noon had just passed. Luigi took a deep breath, knowing that the moment he emerged at the other end, his peaceful existence would be shattered. He'd be spotted. Recognised. With a sigh of resignation, he stepped forward and fell into the warped abyss.

The journey took seconds. He closed his eyes against the familiar dizziness that came with the polarity flip - where travelling downwards became travelling upwards, and everything felt like it had been turned upside-down. Fresh air hit his face; the sensation of falling feet-first swapped with that of falling head-first, and then finally the plummeting changed to soaring. Daylight glared in his eyes as he shot out of the other end of the pipe; he braced himself and landed neatly on the ground, in a field that adjoined the edge of Toad Town.

Luigi gazed across the rippling grasses at the clusters of Toadish houses in the near distance. It took a few moments to register with him that something didn't seem quite right.

Buildings he remembered being there had gone. Those that remained were scarred with cracks in their walls, some recently patched up, others still gaping. From his elevated vantage point, Luigi could see very little activity; the usually bustling town seemed too quiet. He turned northwards to look at Princess Peach's castle. A thin jagged gash filled in with mortar streaked diagonally up one of the outer walls. The inner bank of the moat looked like it had been shored up with wooden planks as if to prevent an anticipated collapse, and the water level seemed lower than usual. It was then Luigi noticed the trench-like dip in the ground, several metres wide, running out from the moat and across the field into the distance.

He scratched his head. What had happened here? Some kind of ground quake maybe? Had Bowser attacked recently? Anxious to avoid walking through Toad Town, Luigi crossed the field and headed for the moat, and followed it round until he reached the castle gates.

Seeing the drawbridge down and the portcullis beyond it raised, he approached the uniformed Toad guard stationed at the entrance.

The guard lowered his spear-like weapon, his eyes widening. "Luigi-Mario!" he said. "We've been waiting for you. Please, follow me."


	4. Duty Bound

**4\. Duty Bound**

* * *

Luigi could feel the eyes of the other guards on him as he was led through the courtyard towards the sentries' barracks. He averted his gaze, instead taking in the cracks zig-zagging across the ground and small chunks of masonry missing from some of the buildings. He knew the castle well, of course. He'd been on good terms with many of the Toads that worked there. Yet now, as the guard led him into the squat building just within the castle wall, he felt like a stranger, almost like a criminal. He stooped to fit through the doorway to the little office inside, expecting to see the Chief of Security waiting for him. But nobody was there.

"You'll wait here until someone comes in to interview you," said the guard. Before Luigi could turn around to reply, the door had shut and the guard had gone.

Feeling like a giant in a room furnished to suit a species half his size, Luigi scanned the cramped office for somewhere to sit. He spotted a chair in the corner that was large enough for a human, but the seat was piled high with papers and he didn't think that he should move them. Instead, he leaned against the cluttered desk and waited, until a polite knock at the door had him jumping to his feet. To his surprise and relief, none other than Toadsworth, Royal advisor to Princess Peach, entered the room.

"Toadsworth!" Luigi reached down, so that the old Toad could shake his hand. "I thought you were the Chief of Security. He _is_ coming, yes?"

"Yes, well," said Toadsworth, his white moustache lifting in what Luigi knew to be a smile, "I suggested that he let me interview you instead. Thought you might prefer it. Under the circumstances."

Luigi wasn't going to disagree with that. Toadsworth had been the only one who'd understood his reasons for moving away from Toad Town, and he'd been the only one who had never judged him for it. Even though the old Toad readily admitted that he never quite understood the _Mr. L phenomenon_, as he called it, he'd still been a solid support to Luigi throughout the tortuous process of assimilating the fragments of his dual consciousness back into one mind.

Toadsworth signalled for Luigi to clear the large chair and sit down, before seating himself behind the desk. "It's good to see you back at the castle. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Feeling awkward, Luigi rubbed his arm. "Yes. A long time." He wondered whether this was a cue to ask about all the damage to the buildings of Toad Town, when Toadsworth cleared his throat, indicating that he intended to get right down to business.

"So, I heard you took on the King of the Boos again, this time in Evershade Valley."

The mention of the enormous, spherical, cackling ghost brought Luigi's mind back into focus. The quicker he answered Toadsworth's questions, the quicker he'd be on his way home. He took a deep breath. "He caught Mario," he said.

Toadsworth produced a pencil and notepad from a pocket inside his jerkin. "Yes, we've heard that bit from Mario himself, but he didn't say much about it. Says he remembered nothing much after he was captured." He took off his pince-nez and cleaned the lenses. "I'm hoping you can shed more light on that in due course. Now, we were given to understand that when you had previously captured King Boo, the professor had incarcerated him inside a painting, using an invention of his - what was it now, a portraitisor?"

"A portrificationisor," said Luigi.

"Exactly," said Toadsworth, balancing the pince-nez back on his face. "I need to know how King Boo came to escape that painting and strike again, what exactly happened down there, and whether the ghosts will come out of the valley and go after us next."

Luigi wasn't sure where to start. He felt the back of his neck prickle at the vague recollection of Gadd mentioning that he'd sold the painting of King Boo at a garage sale. He chose his words carefully. "I don't know how King Boo escaped from the painting. The _professore_, he did not have it there at the time." He swallowed, as he watched Toadsworth write the answer down in his notebook.

"That's very curious then." Toadsworth looked up at him with a frown. "Do you have any idea why the painting was no longer in the Professor's possession?"

Luigi shook his head.

With a sigh, Toadsworth laid the pencil down on the desk. "But nevertheless, you have defeated King Boo, to save your brother again."

Luigi relaxed a little; it seemed that the subject of the interview was moving on. He nodded.

"So, Master Luigi. How are things in the Evershade Valley now? Is everything secure?"

"Oh! The Dark Moon, it is all fixed. The ghosts will not be dangerous, now."

"Dark Moon?" Toadsworth looked confused. "If it's not too much trouble, could you explain to me, what this 'Dark Moon' is?"

Luigi felt his face redden. He needed to answer the questions better than this, or he could see the interview going on for ever. "The Dark Moon, it is a crystal in the sky. It keeps the ghosts happy. But King Boo, he broke it, and make the ghosts mad. I catch the ghosts and the Boos, to put in a ghost canister, and look for the pieces of the Dark Moon for the _professore_ to fix it."

Toadsworth hesitated, his pencil hovering over his notebook. Luigi couldn't be sure if it was the story Toadsworth was having trouble understanding, or his awkward English. In the past, if he'd needed to speak at length, it would always be in Italian, and Mario would translate for him. But there was no way he'd allow Mario to do that now.

Toadsworth frowned. "So what you mean is that the Dark Moon keeps the ghosts under control; it's what keeps them from turning hostile."

Luigi nodded, thankful for Toadsworth's interpretation. "Yes, under control."

"And what about the Boos? Does the Dark Moon control them too?"

"No," said Luigi.

Toadsworth made a note in his notebook. "This… canister you mentioned," he said, drawing an uneasy breath, "where is it kept?"

"In the _professore's_ underground bunker."

"I see," said Toadsworth, as he continued to write. "And did Professor Gadd, by chance, release all the ghosts, now that they're calm and under control again?"

Luigi nodded, unsure as to why Toadsworth looked so worried. "Yes. Everything is back to normal."

"Am I correct in thinking that he could…" Toadsworth paused for a moment before continuing, "that he could potentially do the same with the Boos?"

Luigi scratched his head at the odd question. "But why would he let the Boos go?"

"Easy there," said Toadsworth, raising his hands. "I don't mean he'd do it on purpose of course. But suppose he accidentally pushes a wrong button and releases them? It would take no more than a simple slip of the finger and King Boo will be on the loose again..."

Alarmed, Luigi shook his head. "No, no, no, no, he would not do that. He is very careful." But even as he said it, Luigi could see the weakness of his argument. Many years ago, the professor's carelessness had once sent Toadsworth into a near fatal state of shock, when he'd allowed Princess Peach to travel alone in his brand new time-machine.

Toadsworth leaned forward, looking stern. "Master Luigi, Professor Gadd is a good man, but we must consider the facts. He has a track record for compromising the security of the Kingdom, albeit unintentionally. It sounds from what you tell me, that the security of that canister needs to be monitored a little more closely. But we're in no position to do that, presently, owing to the current situation in Toad Town."

Jumping at the chance to sidetrack Toadsworth for a moment, Luigi leaned forward. "Do you mean the broken buildings?" he said. "What happened here? I was thinking it was Bowser…"

Toadsworth sighed. "You've really been away too long."

Embarrassed, Luigi lowered his eyes, waiting for Toadsworth to continue.

"A large warp pipe became unstable and disappeared," said Toadsworth, settling back in his chair. "It ran under part of the castle, and underneath Toad Town. You may have seen the sinkholes along its line. Now the whole area is prone to subsidence."

Luigi frowned. "I did not know a warp pipe was there…"

"That's the problem," said Toadsworth. "We rarely know where they run, until they disappear. Pipes this large are generally very stable; we may have an incident like this once every few generations. Mind you, when it does happen, it's devastating."

Luigi found himself looking at the stone floor under his feet. He'd had a strong mistrust of warp pipes ever since the one that brought him here from Brooklyn disappeared, marooning him and his brother on this world.

"All we can do is fill in the empty holes as they appear and hold out until everything settles." Toadsworth picked up his pencil and twisted it between his fingers. "And hope there'll be no more casualties, of course."

"That's bad..." said Luigi. As a trained plumber, dealing with pipe problems was his business, but he'd learned long ago, to his frustration, that by their very nature, warp pipes were beyond his control. They couldn't be cut, joined or moved. They couldn't even be filled; anything placed inside them would shoot out of the other end. Somewhere, deep down, Luigi felt a pang of guilt as he thought of these tiny Mushroom folk struggling to keep their town and their castle from falling into the ground.

Toadsworth flipped through the pages of his notebook, and stood up. "Well anyway, I shouldn't be concerning you with this, and I do believe I have all the information I need from you, for now. Security in Evershade Valley seems to be a problem, and I may need to contact you in due course about that. You're free to go, Master Luigi, and I must thank you for everything you did back there."

Luigi stood to go, but avoided Toadsworth's eyes as they shook hands once more. He didn't feel as though he deserved the thanks. Had Professor Gadd not forced him to do his dirty work for him, Mario would have been lost for good, and the Toads would have no help with their predicament.

He paused as he opened the door. "Mario is helping you, here, no?"

"With the repairs?" Toadsworth shook his head. "He did to start with, at least before he went to Evershade. But since he came back, no. Most unlike him. Come to think of it… we haven't seen much of Master Mario at all, lately. It's almost like _both_ of you left."

"Ah," said Luigi, remembering how shaken Mario had been after his first encounter with King Boo. For someone who was so used to being almost invincible in this world, Mario's confidence had taken a severe knock; it wasn't inconceivable that after being caught a second time, Mario might simply be feeling sorry for himself. "Do not wait for him to come. He needs to be busy to feel better. Ask him. Make him help."

"Oh, we've tried." Toadsworth clicked his tongue in irritation. "If you must know, he barely speaks to anyone. We're unsure whether he is quite well. It's something of a worry, especially with the the official visit coming up. Princess Peach can't go unless Mario is fit enough to accompany her. I wish I knew what was wrong with him." He looked up at Luigi, an enquiring look in his eyes.

Luigi guessed the favour that Toadsworth dared not ask him. His heart sank. The last thing he wanted to do right now, was go and visit Mario.


	5. Old Haunts

**5\. Old Haunts**

* * *

It felt like a ghost town. Luigi jammed his hands in his pockets as he walked through the fractured and deserted streets, trying to ignore the frightened eyes peeping out at him from behind darkened window frames.

What had changed in Mario, that he would no longer help these poor people? Luigi doubted whether any illness was behind it. The restorative power of the 1-UP never left either of them under the weather for long, and as for recovering from his ordeal in Evershade Valley, more than enough time had passed for Mario to return to his usual self.

No, this was something else, and it bothered Luigi more than he felt comfortable admitting to himself.

The more he dwelt on it, the more he wanted to give Mario a piece of his mind and shake him out of whatever malaise he'd sunk into. But he knew that rousing his brother's temper would do no good - it would probably lessen the likelihood of Mario getting up off his fat backside to help. As he reached the narrow warp pipe by the broken fountain in the town square, Luigi stopped and shook his head, at a loss for the best way to approach Mario. With a heavy sigh, he climbed onto the lip of the pipe and dropped in.

It felt strange, emerging from the other end of that pipe again. The wooden, chalet-style house that he and Mario had built and shared for years had barely changed since the day he'd left, except for the weeds overgrowing the once carefully tended flower beds. Although saddened at the disappearance of the plants he'd raised and cared for himself, Luigi didn't feel surprised at the sight. Mario had never been much of a gardener.

Steeling himself, Luigi picked his way through the weeds and made his way to the front door. He expected it to be locked, but the handle turned with ease. He hesitated. Should he knock, or go straight in?

"Mario?"

He knew he hadn't called loud enough to be heard, but it bolstered his courage to let himself in. After all, wouldn't Mario prefer him to behave as if this were still his home?

Before he'd even opened the door a few inches, the thick odour of stale alcohol, rotting food and sweat hit him full in the face. Wrinkling his nose and holding his breath, he stepped into the darkness within, strode over to the window, pulled back the drapes and opened it. Sunlight streamed across the room, triggering movement on the sofa. Luigi turned around.

Mario lay sprawled across the cushions, eyes closed, and one arm trailing to the floor. Food-stains dulled his red shirt and his overalls had been let down to his waist. A week's worth of stubble covered his face, which looked puffy and pale. Luigi eyed the plate of half-eaten pasta which lay on the floor among the empty wine bottles and upturned glass. They, like Mario, must have been lying there since the night before, possibly longer. He shook his head in disgust.

"Mario!" he said again, his voice firmer now.

Mario rolled over and muttered in his sleep, prompting Luigi to walk over to him and shake his shoulders.

"Mario! What is wrong with you?"

"Mmmm-huh…" Mario opened glazed eyes. He looked like he was about to close them again, when they widened with realisation.

"L-Luigi!" he said with a gasp. He scrambled into a sitting position and pulled the straps of his overalls up over his shoulders, while at the same time attempting to hide the clutter on the floor behind his legs.

"Yes… it's me." Luigi waited until Mario had focused on him, before speaking again. "I came back for to make the report to the Chief of Security. I saw Toadsworth, instead."

Mario narrowed his eyes for a moment, then composed himself. "Oh." He scratched the back of his neck, and studied his fingernails.

"I am not blind, Mario," said Luigi. "I see what has happened to Toad town." He hesitated, knowing he'd have to say it now. "And… you haven't been helping them."

Mario glared up at him. "Neither have you."

The remark left Luigi lost for words for a moment. "I wasn't here," he protested, "but you _were_, Mario. Your house is not broken. Why do you not help them? You are the hero, remember?"

Mario reached down for his half-empty bottle of Piranha Plant Leaf wine and took a large mouthful from it. "Well," he said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, "perhaps I quit the hero job, just like you did."

"You _quit?_" Luigi couldn't be sure whether Mario was joking, or not. "But Toadsworth, he is talking about an 'official visit'. Why do you quit? Is it because King Boo caught you again?"

Mario took another gulp of the wine and raised the bottle to Luigi, as if to toast him. "It must be very nice to have a house to yourself, where nobody can find you and bother you. It is big, and quiet, and peaceful. The only company you have is an old man who studies ghosts. Congratulations. It was worth saving my life the first time, no?" He stifled a belch. "All that treasure you collected… pof! All gone on your lovely house." The wine slopped around in the bottle as he waved it about. "So, how much money did you make from _this_ little ghost-catching excursion, eh?" He sat forward and snarled. "I would not put it past you to have made a pact with King Boo to do it all over again whenever you are short of a few coins, _Mr. L._"

The words pierced Luigi like a blade of ice, yet he could feel it within him that a pact with King Boo was just the sort of trick Mr. L would try. But the thought had never crossed his _own_ mind. He gritted his teeth. "I am not Mr. L." He wished his voice would stop trembling. "Anyway, how could I make a pact - I did not know you were there."

"Hah, yes." Mario glared at him before crossing his arms, his fist still tight around the neck of the bottle, "You went in, and I just _happened_ to be there in the middle of it all. Why would I have any business in Evershade Valley, if I hadn't been called in on an emergency, eh? You would have been the man for the job, but no, you quit, remember? So the professor, he called for my help first." He grunted and looked at his bottle. "I didn't even have the chance to find the Poltergust machine before King Boo caught up with me."

Luigi reeled. The professor called _Mario_? He didn't know who he was more furious with. "He should have called _me_ first."

Mario threw back his head and laughed. "And you would have gone? I hear he had to abduct you through his Pixelator machine and force you into doing it." His expression switched from mirth to anger. "Professor Gadd didn't tell you I was there for a good reason. There's a part of you that would have left me there to rot." He lay back down on the sofa, but held his cold glare steady. "You said it yourself; you are not same Luigi we all knew from before Count Bleck. Just go. I know you don't want to be here."

"But I am _not_ Mr. L… It's just..." Luigi let his shoulders slump. Mario was drunk; there was no use reasoning with him. Even if he were sober, Luigi doubted he would truly understand. There was no point in even trying to persuade his brother to assist with rebuilding Toad Town. Realising he was just wasting his time, he made for the door.

"Luigi… wait…"

He stopped still.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean…" The wine bottle clunked onto the abandoned plate of pasta on the floor.

Luigi looked over his shoulder to see Mario doubled forward, his forearms resting on his knees, and his head drooping over them. He looked pathetic."You're _sorry?_" he spat.

Mario didn't respond, or move.

Luigi stared at him, repulsed. Then, against his better judgement, he headed for the kitchenette in the corner of the room, where he opened a cupboard and reached for a box on the top shelf. The powders were still there, made from 1-UP and various other medicinal plant-life, which he and Mario had developed for their own well-being over the years. He picked one of the less dirty tumblers from the piles of unwashed crockery, rinsed it and half filled it with water, then dissolved a spoonful of powder into it.

A tremor rattled the clutter on the work surfaces. Mario's wine bottle toppled over on the floor, some of its contents spilling onto the rug. Luigi stumbled on his way to the sofa, but held the glass steady. "What was that?" he said.

Mario swiped the wine bottle up from the floor gave a nonchalant wave. "If you had been here, you'd know it's been going on for months. They're just aftershocks. Nothing we can do about it."

Fighting the urge to throw the glass in Mario's face, Luigi wrenched the wine bottle from his grip and thrust the pick-me-up at him. "You are disgusting," he said.

He watched his brother swallow the reviving liquid in one gulp, and then snatched the glass back before Mario could drop it on the floor. He needn't have bothered, however, because the next tremor sent it flying out of his hand as he toppled onto the sofa beside Mario. Mugs smashed on the floor of the kitchenette and the bookcase by the opposite wall began to rock.

"This is more than just an aftershock Mario!" Luigi could barely hear his own voice over the roar of the ground beneath them. It subsided as quickly as it had started, but the sudden screams of terrified Toads from the garden outside pierced the ensuing silence. Instinct had Luigi on his feet. The house was miles away from Toad Town. How bad had it been near the castle?

Mario didn't move, apparently unperturbed by the unfolding chaos around him. "Why are _they_ here?" he muttered.

Luigi could only stare at him. Those Toads must have been desperate to risk using a warp-pipe to get here during an earthquake, and Mario had asked _why?_ He was about to make a sarcastic retort, when one of the Toads banged on the door.

"M-Mario! Are you there? Part of the castle is collapsing! The Princess is in danger!"

Mario laid his head on the arm of the sofa, but Luigi grabbed him by the bib of his overalls and hoisted him to his feet. "Mario! Don't lay there like a lazy idiot!"

Mario rolled his eyes and stumbled over the empty bottles. He twisted out of Luigi's grip and pushed him away. "If you want to help so badly then _you_ go do it!"

The Toad drummed on the door again. "Mario! Please answer! Please... we need your help!"

The ground shook again. The beams in the roof popped and cracked. Mario and Luigi both glanced at the ceiling, and then at each other. Mario's eyes sharpened; he pursed his lips into a thin line. Whether it was the house creaking or the effect of the 1-UP solution that had made the difference, Luigi didn't know or care. He grabbed the door and swung it open, keeping himself hidden behind it so that the Toad wouldn't see him. Mario bared his teeth at Luigi and growled, then he rolled up his sleeves. "I'm coming," he said to the Toad, and he stormed out of the door.

Luigi let out a sigh. He'd done it. He'd done what Toadsworth had asked. He waited in silence until the coast was clear, and then took one final look at the place he'd once called home. It hadn't been a good day, but it could have been worse. Toad Town would survive. The princess would survive. Mario would see to that, because he always did.

The ceiling beams creaked. A deafening crash from Mario's bedroom had him jumping out of his skin, and puffs of dust rolled out from under its closed door. Luigi spun round as the two windows in the living room shattered simultaneously. An ominous crack echoed throughout the entire structure.

Fearful that the entire house would collapse on top of him, Luigi fled through the front door, but was too late to dodge the narrow fissure that had opened in the garden outside. His foot hit thin air; he kicked back in the hope that he wouldn't lodge his leg in the crack. Finding traction on its edge, he dived sideways to launch himself clear of the hole, only to whack his head on the hidden rocky border of the long-forgotten flowerbed.

Luigi saw stars.


	6. Riven

**6\. Riven**

* * *

He came to his senses with a jolt. How long had he been out? Seconds? Hours? Luigi scrambled to his feet, cursing his own clumsiness. Touching the tender bruise on his temple, he eyed the narrow rift in the ground that had tripped him, and listened to the eerie silence. The tremors had stopped. Mario and the Toads had gone. But the house was a ruin. Part of the roof had collapsed at the back, and some of Mario's belongings lay strewn among the debris.

But Luigi couldn't think about that now. He felt sick. His head ached. The quicker he could get himself into Toad Town, the quicker he could leave all this behind him and begin his journey home. He turned away from the house to face the narrow warp-pipe that would take him to Toad Town. It was still there, protruding from the ground just beyond the garden; shiny, unblemished, untouched. For a brief moment he considered the irony at how the disappearance of a single warp pipe could cause such widespread damage to the land, yet fail to even leave a scratch on any of the other pipes in the vicinity. But now wasn't the time to ponder it. Without another thought, Luigi stumbled across the unkempt garden, clambered over the edge of the pipe and let himself fall.

Before he even emerged from the other end, dry dust and grit invaded his nose and throat. He shot up out of the pipe coughing and spluttering, to land on top of the pile of of broken stone that had once been the fountain in the town square. Through a haze of dust he could see Toads picking through rubble for survivors and carrying the injured away. He lay low among the ruins, torn between lending a hand and not wanting to be seen. He didn't _need_ to be here, he told himself. Mario was around somewhere, helping. He, Luigi, had made sure of that. His job was done. It was time to go home.

Taking care that nobody was looking in his direction, Luigi slipped away from the pipe, slid between two houses and down a deserted street. Pressing his back to the walls at every corner, he darted down one alley and then another, until he reached the edge of Toad Town. Staying under the cover of the shadows of broken buildings, he checked that the coast was clear, and then turned his eyes to the swaying grasses of the open field beyond - a field now riven with potholes and gulleys, many connected to an impassable chasm which stretched from the castle in one direction, to as far as the eye could see in the other.

The warp pipe that would take him on his way back to his own house still gleamed among the grass - out of reach on the other side. Luigi sized up the gap. It wouldn't be easy to jump across. The sinkholes peppered the ground on either side of it; Luigi doubted that what ground was left would take the force of his take-off or the impact of his landing.

He scanned it left and right, looking for a narrower gap to jump, his eyes following it to the now almost empty moat and the partially collapsed outer castle wall. At the sight of the castle, Luigi's heart lifted a little. Most of the buildings in the complex had fared better than in Toad Town. At least the princess had probably survived the quakes.

The high-pitched twittering of Toad voices snapped him back to his senses and he cast around, looking for movement. He'd got this far and didn't want to be discovered now. Where were they coming from? Then he saw it - the prongs of a makeshift ladder rising over the chasm's edge. Luigi darted through the broken doorway of an abandoned house. Stepping over the broken furniture, he made his way to the window that looked out onto the field, where he watched as one by one, six dirty and dishevelled Toads climbed out of the chasm, the royal emblem barely visible on their torn servant's uniforms.

Supporting one another in pairs they crossed the field, heading almost directly for him, their eyes glassy with shock. Luigi ducked out of sight and held his breath as they passed within feet of the window. He listened to their footsteps tramping past the open doorway as they made their way through the narrow alley back towards the centre of town. Once it was quiet again, he crept out from the little house and stepped out into the sunlight, his eyes now fixed on the chasm.

With a ladder down there, he wouldn't have to jump. He could just climb down, carry the ladder to the other side, climb back up and then he'd be on his way home. Testing the strength of the ground with every step, Luigi made slow progress across the field, his gaze flicking from the unstable soil beneath his feet to the deep gap in front of him, curious as to what kind of a void a giant warp pipe like this would leave. Not that he really wanted to look into it and find out. He'd feel safer discovering that from the bottom.

With each step feeling more precarious than the last, Luigi approached the chasm's edge. He knelt down as close to it as he dared and grabbed the top of the ladder's rails. The patter of stony soil falling from the precipice had him pulling back, but he knew he had to get onto the rungs somehow. He leaned forward again and looked over the edge, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he found himself staring into the grimy face of a blue-spotted Toad.

The Toad squealed with fright and lost his grip on the rungs, his flailing limbs dislodging the ladder as he fell. Luigi's hand shot out to steady it, and the Toad grabbed at a rung further down. Dangling from one arm, the little creature cried out as he swung to one side and then the other, his short legs scrabbling to find a foothold. Trying to avert his gaze from the sheer drop below, Luigi could do nothing except hold the ladder steady until the Toad clung to its rungs and hugged at it.

"Climb!" Luigi kept hold of one rail and extended his free hand downwards. "Come on!"

The Toad looked up, his brow furrowed with dismay. "Luigi? Oh, no… it really _is_ you..."

_"Toadsky?"_ Luigi hadn't recognised the Toad's face through the dirt, but the voice was unmistakeable. Twice, this little blue Toad had adventured at his side, helping Mario release Princess Peach from Bowser's clutches. One of those times had been when the beast had imprisoned her inside her own castle. As head of the Toad Communications Network and reporting directly to Toadsworth, Toadsky was one of the bravest and most reliable Toads Luigi had ever known. But now, he clung to the ladder, shaking and unable to move.

Luigi leaned out as far as he dared. "What is wrong? Are you hurt?"

Toadsky shook his head. "I...I didn't think you'd be here."

"Climb!" Luigi extended his hand further and watched the Toad's slow, almost reluctant climb to the top of the ladder. He didn't seem to be hurt, but something had shaken him. Luigi grabbed Toadsky by the arm as soon as he was within reach and hauled him over the top.

Exhausted, Toadsky rolled over onto his back and pulled off the torch he had strapped to his blue headcap. "Too late," he said, closing his eyes. "You're too late…"

_Too late?_ What did he mean? Luigi frowned. "The princess?"

The blue Toad levered himself up on one arm and gave Luigi a sorrowful look. "No. Mario."

It didn't compute. The Toad had got it wrong. Surely, he meant something else. Luigi shook his head. "What? What is it?"

Toadsky drew a ragged breath. "I was helping him evacuate the castle… I had the last group of servants with me" - he nodded in the direction the evacuees had gone - "We were in the main keep. Mario told me to lead them out. He went back to double-check the strongrooms in the basement. He wanted to make sure there was nobody left. I led my group outside, and..." he held his breath for a moment. "...And then the ground collapsed. It's a miracle this thing opened up." He waved a hand at the chasm behind him. "We wouldn't have found a way out, otherwise. If Mario hadn't told us to get out, we would _all_ have been buried alive…" Toadsky swallowed, his eyes tearing up. "He saved us..."

Luigi reeled. His heart thumped as he looked towards the castle.

Toadsky grimaced and wrung his hands. "Oh, Luigi, I'm sorry…"

A cold sweat crept over him. Clenching his fists, Luigi steadied his breathing. _Mario - buried alive - what an idiot!_ _Why did he have to rush into things all the time without thinking?_ "The… the strongrooms," he said. "Is there another way down there?"

The Toad looked at him as if he were crazy. "Luigi - you don't understand - even if there _was_ a way down there, it's going to be blocked…"

"Blocked? I don't care about blocked!" His own voice sounded unnatural, like he had cotton wool in his ears. He felt numb. Unreal. Anger shook him. Why? _Why?_ The sky and the field swirled. Somewhere he thought he could hear the tumbling of stones and Toadsky squawking with fear.

"Luigi! Careful! Luigi, please…"

He blinked at the sight of Toadsky dangling by the collar from his own fist. Stunned, Luigi let go and the Toad fell to the ground in a trembling heap, the impact dislodging yet more soil from the edge. But somehow, that didn't matter any more. He glared down at Toadsky lying at his feet. "We are going to the strongrooms," he said.


	7. Beneath the Surface

**Beneath the Surface**

* * *

Toadsky snatched up his torch and scooted backwards a little. "Luigi, you don't understand… He didn't have a 1-UP"

"_You_ do not understand!" said Luigi through his teeth. "I gave him a drink with a little bit of 1-UP in it. There is a chance. Never give up. Always, we never give up!"

With a wary look at Luigi, Toadsky picked himself up and dusted himself down, straightening his jerkin from where Luigi had shaken him and almost torn it off his back. Then he strapped his torch back on his head and without another word, swung his little legs back onto the ladder and descended into the chasm.

Luigi did his best to calm his anger. He needed a clear head for this, and it still hurt from where he'd tripped in Mario's garden. Once he saw Toadsky reach the bottom, he turned and lowered a foot onto one of the ladder's rungs. It creaked and fractured before he'd even put his full weight on it. It looked like the ladder had been constructed in haste from splintered and broken wood; the rails bowed where they'd been extended with extra lengths cobbled together, and the lashings were too weak to support a human. Pulling himself up with his arms, Luigi wrapped his feet around the outside of the rails, careful to spread his weight along as much of the ladder as possible. Then he half climbed, half slid his way down until he reached a point where he felt safe enough to jump the rest of the way.

The echo his landing made reminded him a little of the echoes in the sewers he'd explored during his apprenticeship in Brooklyn. The oddly curved cliffs stretched above his head; it was clear that only something cylindrical could have left a cavity this shape in the rock. It almost felt like he was standing at the bottom of a giant skateboarder's half-pipe back on Earth, except that it had been part-filled with loose soil and rock that had caved in from the surface above.

Toadsky stood among the rubble now, a grim expression on his face. As soon as Luigi caught his eye the Toad turned away from him and led the way forward. The uneven rocks made the going difficult enough for Luigi, but Toadsky struggled as he had to resort to using all four limbs to clamber through them. Twice, Luigi offered to lift him through the more difficult places, but every attempt at communication was met with an angry scowl over the shoulder.

Luigi had been on enough quests with Mario to know that discord always led to danger. Too many 1-UP mushrooms had been wasted on reviving himself or his brother because of a lingering disagreement interfering with their focus. With a sigh, Luigi knew he'd need to make peace.

"Toadsky," he said.

The little Toad ignored him and pressed forward.

"_Toadsky!"_ Tiny stones rattled down the sides of the gulley at his raised voice.

But when he saw Toadsky's face, Luigi felt his blood run cold. He wore that haunted expression Luigi hadn't seen from anybody since those dark days following his return from Castle Bleck, when his very consciousness had lain in fragments - when the urge to murder his own brother had driven him insane. The way Toadsky looked at him now made him wonder whether he'd begun to fragment again.

Luigi swallowed and jerked his thumb back to where they'd come from. "Up there," he said, "I hurt you. Was I… did Mr. L… you know..."

"No," said Toadsky. "But Toadsworth said you would be different. And you are. Unless it's _that, _scrambling your mind." He pointed at Luigi's forehead, and Luigi raised his hand to his throbbing bruise.

"I am okay," he said.

"You are?" The Toad raised his chin and put his fists on his hips. "So, if it's not the bang on the head that made you do that to me, then how can I trust you?"

Luigi felt his blood begin to boil. "You abandoned Mario! For that, he might be dead. Do you think I must thank you?"

"_I_ abandoned Mario?" Toadsky narrowed his eyes. "I had no hope of helping him! He told me to get out… I had others to save…"

"You were not going to go back for him!"

Toadsky frowned."Wait… You said you gave him a drink. So you were with him before he came. Where were _you _when Mario came here?"

Lowering his eyes, Luigi knew he could never own up to having no intention to help Mario, or even forcing him to go and help on his own in the first place. Instead, he confirmed the only truth he dared admit, and made a reluctant gesture at the bruise on his head.

"You got that in the quake? So it knocked you out?" Toadsky's eyes widened.

Thinking it best not to elaborate any further, Luigi shrugged and nodded.

"Mario didn't mention it." Toadsky's tone changed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." With that, he turned back in the direction they'd been heading, and switched his head-torch on. "Watch your footing," he said. We're going underground, soon."

Luigi followed Toadsky through the rocks until the chasm deepened and ended in a round tunnel fortified with wooden frames. Water dripped onto his head and shoulders and his boots splashed through shallow puddles. Guessing that they were beneath the moat, Luigi kept close behind Toadsky, who had their only source of light.

"There has been a lot of work down here," he said, looking up at the frames. "You risk working under here, with all of the earthquakes?"

Toadsky glanced back at him. "It didn't start like this," he said, his voice echoing along the tunnel. "We don't know when the pipe disappeared. We only started investigating when the water level started dropping in the moat. That was when we found the cavity, running right under the castle." He stopped and sighed. "We did our best to put in supports underground, but it zig-zags right underneath Toad Town as well. The quakes came later, and then the ground started to collapse, a little bit every day… "

Luigi shook his head. If the Toad had led the servants to safety through this tunnel, he wondered how great today's collapse had been to prevent Mario from following. "The strongroom," he said. How did it happen?"

Toadsky marched on, his breath misting in the beam of his head-torch. "I can't say for sure," he said. "It's well supported under the strongrooms but with that tremor and the weight of the castle - I… I don't want to think..."

The wobble in his voice was enough to tell Luigi not to press him any further. Toadsky knew no more about what had become of Mario than he did, and so they lapsed into silence as they trudged on.

The tunnel rose and fell, twisted and turned, yet still retained the perfect circular bore left by the missing warp-pipe. It wasn't long before Luigi felt a breeze on his face, and soon the wet dirt walls shone with reflected daylight. As they rounded a corner its source became clear - light poured in from an opening high above them, illuminating a pile of rubble so large, it almost completely filled the space ahead. Luigi had to dodge to one side to avoid running into Toadsky, who had come to a sudden halt.

"Look," said the Toad, pointing up. "The last time we saw Mario, we were up there - in the courtyard. He ran into the keep, and just as he did, I heard one of the walls cracking… Then that hole opened up… My group - we fell down here through it with all this muck. It was too dangerous to climb out here with the ground still falling in around us - all we could do was grab wood from the broken supports to make a ladder and hope that another hole had opened up further from the castle." He took a deep breath and hitched up his belt. "If we're going to look for Mario, we must go this way." He indicated the tunnel extending beyond the pile of debris.

"Wait." Luigi raised a hand. Taking care not to slip, he clambered to the top of the pile of rubble and balanced on its highest point. He could just see the top of one of the keep's shattered walls, but he'd need to jump to get a glimpse of what had happened at ground level. He stamped his feet on the mound to dislodge anything loose, and then coiled the muscles in his legs. Holding his breath, Luigi sprang as high as he dared, performing a one hundred and eighty degree twist in the air.

Broken ground. Pot holes. Two walls of the keep were down. The portcullis had fallen. The drawbridge had gone. In the few seconds he had to take in the damage, Luigi had made his evaluation. A rescue from the surface would take time, and without knowing what conditions were like underground, could cause disaster.

He wobbled on landing and slid on his back the bottom of the mound, several rocks tumbling down with him. Toadsky stepped forward, but as Luigi stood up, he waved him away. "We keep going," he said, nodding in the direction Toadsky had originally pointed at.

But even as they clambered over the rubble and headed back into darkness, he felt his mouth go dry. If they were under the courtyard now, then there wasn't far to go. It seemed too quiet up ahead… He tried not to fear the worst, but already he could see evidence of more supports having splintered, and cracks running through the tunnel walls. It wasn't long before their path had ended with a total blockage of broken concrete, dirt and rocks.

This had to be it. This had to be where Mario was. Leaping ahead of Toadsky, Luigi began pulling smaller boulders away with his bare hands. The Toad moved forward and began to help clear what rubble he could and they worked together, their elongated shadows playing over the curved walls. For every rock moved from the bottom, a shower of dirt and smaller stones would fall on top of them, and it wasn't long before they uncovered a still-intact piece of castle wall, blocking the entire tunnel.

Luigi stood back and stared at the edifice in dismay. It could only mean one thing - the strongrooms - containing Mario - had collapsed into the warp-pipe cavity. He scrambled forward and felt around for breaks in the masonry. His fingertips felt cracks in the stonework, the largest of them barely big enough to fit his hand through, but beyond that, the tunnel seemed completely impenetrable.

"Is there anyone in there?" Toadsky's high-pitched call echoed away down the tunnel behind them. "Mario? Are you there?"

"H-hello?"

Luigi and Toadsky looked at one another. They could barely hear the Toadish voice through the thickness of the stone.

"Who's in there?" called Luigi. "Are you okay?"

"Luigi!" The voice sounded more distant, now. "Mario! I think I heard Luigi!

_Mario. Mario was there. Alive…_ Luigi glared at Toadsky, who shrank away. Then, with his heart thumping hard, he moved closer to the fallen stonework and listened through the cracks, but all he could hear were scuffling and loud clangs, like metal hitting something hard.

"Who's in there?" said Luigi, again.

"L..Luigi - we need your help," said the voice on the other side. "The… the floor caved in, and part of the wall. We're in some sort of a pit. It's too deep for Mario to jump out of. Toadette - she's in a bad way. She's caught under some rubble, Mario's been trying to get her out but- Aaah!" A loud hiss interrupted the voice. "M-Mario!"

"Stay strong, Toadlon. I'm doing the best that I can!"

Luigi closed his eyes on hearing Mario's voice. He sounded irritated, but otherwise strong and positive. He'd rescue Toadette. He'd find a way out. He was Mario, after all. And Toadlon was with him. That yellow-spotted Toad could be a plucky individual too, when he put his mind to it.

"Th-there's water! Water coming in!" Toadlon sounded terrified. "It's going to fill up this hole, and we'll drown!"

Toadsky placed his hands over his headcap in dismay. ""Oh no… no, no… What can we do?"

Faced with an immovable stone wall, Luigi couldn't see that there was anything they _could_ do, but the last thing both he and Mario needed was a pair of panicking Toads. Deciding that the best thing to do was to keep Toadlon talking, he put his mouth to the crack in the stone.

"Toadlon," he said, "tell me, what is Mario doing?"

"He's trying to lever the rocks away with a broken water pipe."

Toadsky moved in closer. "How deep is the water?" he asked.

"Not very deep yet," said Toadlon, "just a little bit, but there's nowhere for it go, and if it's keeps coming, it's going to rise soon." A crash almost drowned his words, followed by loud splashes.

Luigi caught his breath. "What happened?" he shouted.

Toadlon didn't reply. All Luigi could hear were more splashes of water.

"Toadlon!" shouted Toadsky. "Toadlon! Are you still there? Is Toadette okay? Speak up!"

Luigi signalled to Toadsky to be quiet, and they listened to the splashing about and muted voices on the other side. Eventually, he heard heavy footsteps approaching, and a cough.

"Luigi!" Mario's bark made them jump. "Are you there?"

"Yes. And Toadsky."

"Toadsky!" Mario sounded relieved. "You got the servants to safety?"

"Yes, but… what about you? And Toadette? With the water rising..."

"We still have time. Toadette, she is unconscious, and I think that her foot is broken. I have put her down somewhere dry, and Toadlon is taking care of her."

"But this wall…" began Toadsky.

"The blockage cannot be _that_ thick if we can talk through it." Mario poked his gloved fingers through the crack and waggled them a bit, causing Luigi to pull his head away. "Luigi, what does it look like on your side?"

Luigi took off a glove and ran his fingers over the contours of the stones. He could feel how the fall and impact had shattered some of them; he could push his fingernails into some of the smaller cracks, but they were too narrow to be of any use, and he had no idea how deep they were anyway. But if he could enlarge them and weaken the stones somehow… "We need to make more cracks," he said.

He shaded his eyes from the torch as Toadsky stared at him.

"More cracks?"

Luigi nodded, "Yes. Make cracks. _Frattura_."

"_Frattura?"_

"He means fractures." Mario sounded doubtful as he said it. "But how?".

And then, Luigi remembered. He'd read it somewhere, how ancient mining techniques had involved thermal shock to break up rock and stone. "We do it by heat," he said. "Then ice. Then heat. Until they crack!"

Toadsky gave him a blank stare. Mario didn't reply. Frustrated, Luigi grabbed a small stone and closed his fist around it. Was it so stupid an idea? Or was his English still that bad that they didn't get it? He threw the pebble back down the tunnel, where it skittered into the darkness, and then sat down with a bump.

"There… there isn't any other way out?" Toadsky ventured.

Luigi rested his head back on the masonry and resisted making a sarcastic remark. Of course there wasn't any other way. If there was, Mario would have escaped by now, and would be drinking himself into yet another stupor somewhere.

"Toadsky!" Mario's muffled shout broke the silence. "Toadsky- I want you to fetch as many fireflowers and ice flowers are you can. Do you hear? I am talking fifty, sixty, a hundred or more! Gather any helpers and find as many as you can!"

Luigi turned to face the hole in the stones. "You are serious?"

"Can anybody think of a better idea?" said Mario. "No. Toadsky, go as fast as you can. This water isn't going to stop. We don't have forever."

"Y-yes, I'll do my best!" Toadsky stood up straight, adjusted his head-torch and then trotted away down the tunnel as fast as he could, leaving Luigi alone in the pitch dark.


	8. Breaking Barriers

**8\. Breaking Barriers**

* * *

Leaning back against the cold stones of the collapsed wall, Luigi shut his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands. Somehow the pitch blackness didn't feel so intimidating with his eyes covered. Without sight, his hearing felt sharper; every rumble of wind, every drip of water penetrated the sound of the blood pumping through his ears and his heart thumping in his chest.

"Luigi, are you there?" Despite the thick stone wall, in the dark, Mario's voice sounded crystal clear.

"Still here," Luigi replied. He lay his head against the wall.

"I'm surprised that you came. Down here, I mean. Normally you'd avoid places like this."

Luigi bit his lip. If he hadn't bumped into Toadsky, he wouldn't have been here at all. And if he hadn't been stupid enough to trip himself up and knock himself out, he might have missed Toadsky altogether. "It looked bad," he said.

"What looked bad?" said Mario. "The town, the castle, or just me in general? Because… because to me, it feels like _everything_ has been looking bad as of late."

An uncomfortable knot grew in Luigi's stomach. There was something foreign about Mario's tone and Luigi could already guess where the conversation was heading. "Mario," he said, "life does not stop because of one thing. It changes."

He hoped he'd made it clear, but somehow it hadn't come out right. He'd never been very good at giving pep-talks. Deciding it was better not to say any more, Luigi closed his eyes to the blackness and listened to the running water on Mario's side of the wall, trying to fathom what his brother might be thinking.

"Luigi…" Mario's voice seemed even closer to him than ever. "That incident - it has been bothering me ever since you left."

Luigi turned his head in the dark. "I did not rescue you for money. I am no _mercenario!_"

"No, no, I didn't mean..." Mario stopped and sighed. "I am sorry I accused you of that. It's just… since you left Toad Town, I am always thinking about everything. I know I am not all that patient, but I still want to _know_."

Luigi frowned. Mario wasn't making any sense. "Know what?" he said.

Scuffles echoed on the other side of the wall, as if Mario was shifting to bring himself closer. "You said you had to leave, because you did not know who you were any more. It's been a long time since then, and I've waited. What about now? Have you found out anything about yourself since you left?"

Luigi inhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mario," he said, "I cannot go back."

"But Luigi, I have never blamed you for… for the things you did. It was years ago, now. You were being controlled. Manipulated. Mr. L… that wasn't _you_. You're Luigi. You always have been Luigi. The past is in the past. What matters is what you do now and in the future."

This was the conversation Luigi had been dreading. Why couldn't Mario understand that this wasn't about blame? "But I _was_ Mr. L," he said. "I remember it. It is in my history, just like… like growing up in Brooklyn is in my history. I cannot forget and think it did not happen."

"But that's not -" A loud clang and a gushing of water from the other side drowned Mario's words. Luigi heard his brother mutter an angry curse, followed by the sound of him wading away through water. His thoughts moved to the unconscious Toadette, and he wondered how young Toadlon was holding up.

He held his breath and listened, but all he could hear were grunts of effort, the banging of metal and splashing. Then, the deep sloshes of wading grew nearer again until he could hear Mario panting for breath, nearby.

"Another water pipe just busted open," said Mario, between gasps. "The water's rising faster, now."

Alarmed, Luigi stood up. "How fast?"

"I cannot gauge it. But Toadsky had better not be looking for 1-UPs as well. They've been over-harvested around here because of all of this. He'll never find one and be back in time." The hint of urgency in his voice disturbed Luigi. Mario was usually never the first to panic in a crisis.

"It is ok, Mario. He will be back soon." He realised how hollow his words sounded. "We wait. There are things to look forward to, yes? Toadsworth, he said about an official visit."

Mario grunted, as if pulling himself back into the position he was before. "Oh, right, the invitation. It was from another kingdom. Far away from here."

"So what is it?" said Luigi, feeling his way back to his sitting position among the rocks.

"Hmmf. Don't know. They were talking about pillows or something. I wasn't paying attention to it at the time."

Luigi blinked. "Pillows?"

"All right," said Mario. "It is an island, with a name like 'Pillow'. The princess, she said it could be a great place for a vacation since the people there seemed so willing to meet us."

"The Island of Pillow. A place for rest and sleeping, maybe. That will be good, no?"

Mario snorted. "In your dreams, it will. Last time I accompanied the princess on an island vacation, I was convicted as a criminal for messing up the place with graffiti, even though I_ just_ arrived and the guy looked _nothing_ like me. I mean who mistakes a shadow clone of me as _me_? It wasn't _that_ hard to tell the difference!"

Luigi couldn't help but smile in the dark. "But they say, 'lightning does not strike twice.'"

"Heh. Tell that to Professor Gadd and his ghosts."

At the mention of Gadd, Luigi felt another chill as he remembered Toadsworth's concerns about King Boo and the safety of the ghost cannister that contained him. Mario did have a point. At a loss for what else to say, Luigi stared around the darkness for something to focus on, but he may as well have had a blindfold over his eyes. The relentless sound of water made him wonder how much time they had left.

"Luigi, are you still there?" He could hear Mario scuffling around again, followed by a loud splash. "Ack! That's cold…"

"How deep is it now?"

"It is up to my waist," said Mario, between gasps. "The Toads, they are on a ledge, but the water will reach them soon."

Luigi swallowed. They were both aware of the dangerous consequences of using ice flowers while standing in water. At this rate, his plan might be as good as useless. "Can you climb somewhere higher?" he said.

"Wait a minute…" Mario grunted and splashed in the water, as if searching around. "Yes, I can, but it will be harder to talk to you through this gap."

They both lapsed into silence, listening to the water pouring from the broken pipes. As Luigi shifted around in the dark he noticed his overalls had become wet in places, where water had seeped out through the cracks in the stone wall. He reassured himself that it was a good thing; applying ice and fire would surely open up those fractures further, provided that Toadsky returned in time with the elemental flowers.

"Luigi…" Mario sounded like he was shivering, now. "There is something I want to tell you. While there is still time. About what happened to you… "

Luigi rubbed at his temples in frustration at the thought of going over this again. "You mean, about Mr. L?"

"Yes." Mario coughed and groaned; it sounded as if he was trying to lift himself up a little. "When you left, I did some research. I found something helpful. I wanted to tell you about it... but… well… there has not been the opportunity until now."

_Research?_ Luigi glared into the darkness. "What, you are going to tell me I am crazy?"

"No, no, no, nothing like that. It's just that… others have gone through similar experiences. It's not just you..."

"_What?_ I was hypnotized to be Mr. L, then there was a floro sprout in my head for to control him, then there was surgery to take it out. This has happened to other people?"

"Okay okay," said Mario with a sigh, "maybe the situation wasn't exact, but the… the symptoms, they are the same. People have suffered multiple personalities back on Earth, and the medical journals here, they describe a similar thing can happen with Toads. I have read everything I can, and it's okay, I understand…"

"_No!_" Luigi thumped the wall with his fist. "I am _not_ ill. I am _not_ crazy. I do not need you to understand. You are always protecting. Always looking after. Always translating. I do not _want_ it." The echoes of his raised voice rang in his ears until they gave way to the sound of his own heavy breathing.

Mario lowered his voice to a growl. "I have not spoken one word of Italian to you, bro, because you want English. Not once did I plead with you to come home, because you want to stay away. I got out of your house as soon as I could, because you didn't like me to be there. I told you to leave my house, because you didn't want to be there. I give you what you wanted, no matter how much it hurts me."

Luigi held his breath in an attempt to calm himself. "But I did _not_ want you to quit."

The explosive roar of agonising frustration from Mario that followed had Luigi cowering on his side of the wall. "Just tell me what - just _what_ am I doing wrong?"

Somewhere among the echoes of Mario's outburst, Luigi could hear Toadlon squeak with fright.

Silence fell between them again. Afraid to say any more, Luigi listened to the pouring water and his brother's ragged gasps. He wanted to know how high the water levels had risen but he didn't have the courage to ask. Instead, he curled up and shut his eyes tight. He didn't know what he feared more, Mario's wrath, or the pitch dark.

"D...did you not th...think," said Mario, his voice cracking as he spoke, "that I might have missed you?" His juddering breath didn't sound like it had anything to do with the cold water now.

Luigi huddled closer to the wall, his right side soaked now from the water trickling through the gaps in the stone. "_Look, Mario,_" he said, unaware that he'd lapsed into Italian, "_has anything really changed that much? You still came to the strongrooms looking for stragglers, and I still came looking for you_."

"_Of course I looked for the stragglers_." Mario's words sounded softer in their mother tongue. "_But who was it that pushed me to help the Toads in the first place? You are what keeps me from quitting, Luigi,_" His voice began to break again. "_You're… you're all I have left_."

Luigi turned his head away, swallowing down the lump in his throat. He clenched his teeth and fists to compose himself. "The water," he said at last, switching back to English. "How deep, now?"

"It will not be long before I am swimming."

A faint glimmer on the tunnel walls caught Luigi's attention. He stood up, watching it grow brighter. "I think they are coming."

"Who? How many?" A sudden whoosh of water accompanied Mario's words.

"I cannot see, yet…"

The light continued to spread through the tunnel. A distant pattering of Toadish footsteps grew nearer, accompanied by breathless chatter.

"Luigi!" Toadsky's shrill voice rang out.

"Toadsky?" Luigi shaded his dark-adapted eyes from the blaze of eight head-torches bobbing towards him. Panting for breath, each Toad approached him in turn and laid a box piled high with either fireflowers or iceflowers on the ground in front of him.

"We gathered… as… as many… as… we could…" Toadsky mopped his brow. "Hope… it's enough…"

"Mario!" Luigi looked over his shoulder at the wall. "Did you hear?" He scooped a fireflower from the nearest box and looked at its glowing petals illuminating his dirty glove with its orange-red light.

"I've sent more Toads out for 1-UPs as well," said Toadsky as he caught his breath. "If they find any, they'll be along later."

Luigi nodded at him. "Thank you. Everyone. But you must go. It will be dangerous, now."

Toadsky removed his torch from his head. "Here," he said, handing it to Luigi, "you'll need this." He turned to the other Toads. "Let's get moving. We don't want to be around when they start this!"

Luigi waited until the Toads had filed out of sight. Then, taking care not to crush the luminous fireflower, he gently pushed it from his palm into the gap in the stone with the forefinger of his other hand.

"Mario!" he called, before standing back and strapping the torch to his head. "Are you ready?"

The fireflower disappeared from the gap. Then, as if in answer to his question, an explosion of seething, boiling water roared behind the wall and steam hissed out through the cracks in its stones.

Mario was ready.


	9. Fire and Ice

**9\. Fire and Ice  
**

* * *

Once the Toads had left, Luigi scooped up a flower for himself and stared at it. Seeing it resting in his flattened palm brought back haunting memories of incinerating countless koopas while fighting at Mario's side. They belonged to a life long past. He'd never expected he'd ever need to handle one of these things again.

"Luigi!" Mario sounded as agitated as the water boiling around him. "We better do this fast. Another water pipe just busted."

Without a word, Luigi looked towards the wall that separated him from his brother. He locked his jaw tight and breathed hard through his nostrils as he curled his fingers and crushed the flower in his fist.

It had been so long, he wasn't prepared for the intensity of the fire-rush that followed. It raced through his arm and filled him so fast, it felt like his internal organs would explode in flames. Every muscle and ligament burned, every vein boiled. His eyesight blurred as his body temperature soared; he threw back his head and screamed as he struggled to contain the power he'd absorbed. He clenched his fists, willing the pain and the power to concentrate itself outside his body. As he opened his hands again, he looked down through the glowing imprints of his retinal blood vessels at the green fireballs growing in his palms.

"Luigi!" Mario sounded worried. "You okay, bro?"

Luigi inhaled through his teeth, trying to acclimatise himself to his fire-form again. It brought him back to the very first day he'd taken on the power of a fireflower. The shock was almost as painful now as it it had been back then.

"Yes," he said, able to speak at last. "I am, now."

"Let's get started," said Mario. "Come _on!_"

Luigi flung both palms forward, letting loose his flames. Green light pulsed through the tunnel as his fireballs hit the stones in front of him and dissipated. Heat built up inside him again and he willed the energy towards his hands once more. His arms throbbed as he discharged the fire from his fingertips; already the simmering heat within his ribcage returned in preparation for the next projectile. The roar of Mario's flames hit the other side of the wall over and over, and soon Luigi's recharges began to fall in with his brother's rhythm. Fumes burned his nostrils as the masonry began to heat up until at last, heartened at their progress, Luigi pulled back.

"Mario!" he said. "Get out of the water! It is time for the ice."

While Mario turned his attention to climbing out of the water, Luigi wasted no time in selecting an iceflower from the supply the Toads had brought. He cupped his hands around its brittle bracts and lifted it from the box, careful not to damage the delicate crystalline petals in the centre. He placed it inside the gap between the stones and Mario snatched it away.

Luigi heard Mario gasp and shudder as his brother took on the ice; he knew full well that any wet clothing would have frozen to Mario's skin in the process. Taking another iceflower for himself, Luigi prepared for his next transformation. He closed his fist around it, its form crunching between his fingers.

His muscles stiffened. His nerves numbed. Tiny ice-crystals shimmered in his breath. A white haze clouded his vision as his eyeballs frosted over. The supercooling felt like a comfort after the searing fire, but soon it brought on its own aching pain. He remembered not to succumb to his body's natural urge to curl up and shiver. Instead, he puffed out his chest in an effort to embrace the power growing within him. This time, the shock wasn't so great.

"Ready!" He could barely form the word; his tongue and lips had become so cold and difficult to move.

Mario must have been experiencing the same because he responded only with a bombardment of ice from his side of the wall. Luigi cast his own blue-green spheres of glittering frozen crystal, which exploded into steam before they even made contact with the heated wall.

But between them the two brothers hurled everything they had at at it until at last the atmosphere cooled, the steam became water and a thin layer of ice began to form over the stone bricks. Encouraged by his progress, Luigi found more resolve, which in turn, intensified his power. With every hit the ice grew thicker until the entire blockage became locked within a thick glassy wall.

Coughing from the cold, Luigi stumbled towards the box of fireflowers again and took one for himself. As the power of fire thawed him, he yelled at Mario to stop, then he thrust his fist towards the gap in the rock, now blocked and filled with ice. He barely felt the cold from it as it melted like butter around his fiery fingers. When the gap was clear, he pushed another fireflower through.

Mario took it and groaned as he transformed yet again. Luigi heard him drop back into the water, which once again began to churn and steam.

But somewhere within the boiling sounds, he thought he heard weakening cries from Toadlon. Mario himself sounded like he was gasping for breath.

"The fire, it is eating up the oxygen in here," said Mario. "There is only a thin opening above us. Not enough air…"

"We are not giving up!" The heat grew and raged in Luigi's body to the point where he could barely contain it; the fireballs at his fingertips had already grown to the size of beach balls. He couldn't hold it back any longer. He flung them at the wall of ice, causing a crack to streak right across it. Another fireball met its mark and a huge section of ice dropped and shattered on the ground. Luigi bombarded the exposed stone to heat it up as fast as he could, in time with Mario's fiery attacks on the wall from the other side.

The ice had barely melted before the residual water evaporated and the stones blocking Mario began to glow red hot. Pops and bangs echoed through the tunnel. Steam hissed through the enlarged cracks, followed by spurts of water.

"Mario!" Luigi stared at the water puddling on the floor. "It is working! Water is coming through. The gaps just need to be bigger!" Dizzy from the pain of the heat coursing through him, Luigi reached for two more ice flowers.

But the sound of metal clanging against rock stopped him in his tracks. Shards of stone clattered onto the ground while fractures appeared around the gap they'd been speaking through. At last, a piece of masonry the size of a football fell away, and Mario's whole arm stretched through. Luigi grabbed at it, and they squeezed one another's hands tight, their red and green flames intermingling as one.

Then Mario let go and withdrew his arm, standing aside to allow Luigi to look through the hole. Shining Toadsky's head-torch through, Luigi scanned what remained of the strongroom. Twisted water-pipes protruded from piles of rubble, pumping out endless streams of water. Further back, he could see a sloping piece of fallen masonry on top of which the Toads both lay. A narrow beam of daylight from above was all Mario had to see by - not much better than the pitch blackness Luigi had had to endure earlier.

But the water worried Luigi the most. The level had nearly reached the height of the gap itself, and Mario was almost up to his neck in it. Yet while Luigi took it all in, Mario was already hauling himself up out of the water, climbing and clinging to niches in the stonework above. His clothes dripping, he reached down so that his hand was near the gap.

"Give me another iceflower," said Mario. "Quick!"

They worked together, alternating ice, then fire, then ice, while the stones yielded more and stronger water spurts. But the water had risen so fast that once they'd melted the fourth ice-wall of their own making, it began to pour through the gap through which they'd shaken hands. Mario was now out of his depth.

"Mario! Can you hear me?" Luigi angled his head so that the beam from his head-torch scanned the blockage. He could see another small gap above him within jumping reach - he shone the torch at it. "There is another opening. Up there. Can you see my light?"

"I see it…"

Luigi wasted no time. He grabbed an ice flower and coiled the muscles in his legs, and then sprung as high as his strength would muster. "Mario! Up here!" He placed the delicate flower in the gap and fell back down.

How Mario would be able to spring from that depth of water to retrieve it, Luigi had no idea; all he knew was that his poor brother took several attempts trying. Not only was Mario exhausted and deprived of fresh air, the constant switching between fire and ice would have sapped his strength even further. Luigi waited, watching the blue-white crystal flower sitting in the hole above him.

A groan of effort and a deep whoosh forced the water through the gap so hard it landed several feet beyond where Luigi stood. This time the flower disappeared. He heard Mario whoop in triumph, and then shriek in terror as he crashed back into the water. The sound of the splash halted in an unnatural crackle. The torrent of water flowing out through the lower gap in front of Luigi froze into an arc of ice.

"No!" Luigi grabbed a fireflower from the box. He launched himself back towards the upper gap where he clung to the stones, his feet scrabbling for a foothold. "Mario!"

He peered downwards through the hole. In the dim light he could see the large splash of water had solidified in mid air as if in freeze-frame - itself resembling a giant iceflower in its structure. Deep in its centre, Mario lay half buried, with only his face, belly and knees protruding from the frozen surface. The iceberg that had formed around Mario was growing. It wouldn't be long before the strongroom would become an ice rink; even the continual pouring of water from the burst pipes had begun to freeze on impact.

Luigi dropped a fireball close to his brother, but the meltwater it created ran down towards Mario and refroze around him within seconds.

Mario struggled like an insect trapped in a web. "No!" His voice sounded weak. With his chest encased in ice, he could barely inflate his lungs. "You… you'll only make it worse. It's no use. I… c...can't release my ice anywhere. I'm j...just making everything colder…"

Helpless, Luigi watched the fast, shallow breaths misting above Mario's nose. "Stay calm, Mario! I… I think of something!"

"Luigi… you…" Mario gave a weak cough. "You need… to get out of here."

"No!"

"You don't have to... prove anything to me now. Just… know that… I think you are... great as you are. Just leave… Save yourself. You deserve your new life... And I'll be… out of your hair… "

Luigi glared and shook his head. "Don't be stupid! I am not leaving while you drown in ice, Mario. _Mario!_"

But Mario had already closed his eyes - his face looked grey. Helpless, Luigi watched through the gap as each of Mario's clouded breaths grew weaker than the last.

"No! Don't quit, Mario. Don't quit!" Luigi struggled for a better hold, but he could cling to the wall no longer.

He slid down its rough surface, his fiery body-heat cutting through the frost forming on its bricks. Once his feet hit the ground he staggered back, green flames licking at his arms and hands. He willed them into a wall of fire as big as himself and then flung it at the wall in a rage, melting everything around it. Water and ice began to fall from the cracks again but the buildup of Mario's ice power on the other side froze it over within seconds.

"_No!"_ Unable to believe that it was over, Luigi pummelled at the wall of ice, each contact evaporating it, until at last he leaned against it in despair, his body engulfed with hissing steam.


	10. Escape

**10\. Escape**

* * *

Luigi splayed his arms against the wall, fire pulsing from his body and into the thick frost covering the fractured stones. He wasn't even concentrating any more; his assault had become little more than a survival reflex, a continuous need to discharge his fire power in order to stop it from reducing his body to ash.

It was the one thing Mario couldn't do to save himself, now. While he still lived, his ice power would continue to build up within him, trapped by the growing iceberg his plummeting temperature fed, with no outlet for him to release it. If the increasing layers of ice didn't cover and suffocate him first, his ice power would consume and eventually kill him, effectively snuffing itself out. Any thawing of the ice now would serve only as confirmation to Luigi of Mario's death.

He grimaced at the irony. The chances of the Toads' survival now depended on how fast Mario would die, and even then, Luigi had no idea how long it would take for him to break the wall down and rescue them on his own.

He could hear the ice heave against the stone as it grew, scraping and grinding against the walls and floor of the collapsed strongroom. Metallic creaks popped and banged from beyond the stone barrier, followed by an even louder gush of flowing water. Had another water pipe burst? What difference did it make, whether he knew or not? The situation had already gone far beyond his control.

The thunderous scraping intensified. Something shattered against his chest. Luigi leapt backwards as shards of rock burst from the wall and clattered to the ground, leaving large holes plugged with thick ice.

He held back his fire, letting the heat build up inside him until he could hold it no longer. Then he threw his arms forward, unleashing a flame rivalling even Bowser's breath. More fragments of stone flew off the wall and pinged off the sides of the tunnel; ice exploded into steam. Water gushed through the gaps lower to the ground, washing away the boxes of elemental flowers.

He should have jumped for joy, but the water didn't refreeze. It meant only one thing; Mario's power-up had faded, and with it, his life. Steam engulfed Luigi's legs as the meltwaters rushed and and swirled around his knees. He looked towards the gap above him, in half a mind to jump up and take a look, but as he saw water trickling in tiny rivulets from the cracks above his head, he realised then, his campaign was over. The water level had risen too high; Mario would have either frozen to death or drowned, and the Toads would have had no chance - their safe ledge would have long been submerged by now.

Numb to the heat building within him, Luigi let his burning arms hang limp at his sides as the water jets washed over him. The stones had weakened but it was too late. He'd failed. He looked up, mesmerised by the web of fractures spreading across the wall. He thought he saw it bulge for a second, before it disintegrated into a roaring wave of ice, meltwater and rock.

His torch went out as the water smashed into him, lifting him off his feet and flushing him down the tunnel. Cold gripped him as his fire-power extinguished. Lumps of rocks and ice tore at his skin and clothes like the teeth of some great monster, ripping him apart. He held his breath against the water until spasms racked his body, forcing him to inhale the debris-filled flood that carried him. A burning pain radiated through his grit and water-filled lungs; lights flashed behind his closed eyelids in time with his overworking heart. His head began to cloud. For a moment he thought he felt Mario's body bump against him in the deadly chaos.

He had nothing left. He had to let go. It felt like everything was rushing away from him. Something punctured his left arm and a tingling warmth spread through his body, washing the pain away. Even brighter lights flashed in his eyes and whispering voices flitted over him. Was this what death really felt like? Sometimes pain would scream through his limbs; sometimes he felt like he was dozing in the warmth of the sun. When the ethereal voices came, sometimes he thought he could hear Mario's among them, although he could never make out what they were saying.

The quiet brought him to his senses. It rang in his ears. The pillow crackled as he turned his head but he could see nothing for the dark. Blinking, he eased himself into a sitting position and waited for his head to stop swimming. Shapes came into focus in the dark. A chair. A table. The footboard of his bed. He knew this bed. He knew this room. The only room in Dr. Toadley's hospital equipped to care for humans, it held too many unpleasant memories of previous stays. But it confirmed one thing at least - somehow, he was alive. Somehow, he'd survived that onrush of debris, and without an ounce of 1UP in his body.

He swung his bare legs over the side of the bed and stood, ignoring the soreness in his muscles, the pain of healing wounds and the stiffness of what must have once been a dislocated shoulder. At his first step forward he felt a sharp, tugging sensation in the crook of his elbow which coincided with the clash of the drip-stand against the other side of his bed. He lunged backwards to grab it before it fell, and then rolled across the bed to the other side to steady it. He stifled a moan. Sudden movements hurt. He waited for the pain to subside before trying to sit up again.

"If you're planning your escape, can you do it more quietly? A man needs his sleep in a place like this."

Luigi's stomach turned over. He had to be hallucinating, now. Either he really _had_ died and had joined Mario in some bizarre afterlife or… it wasn't possible. Was it?

"Mario?" he said, "but you are… I thought you were..."

"Dead?" Mario grunted in discomfort as he shifted around in the bed next to Luigi's. "I would have been. There was still a trace of 1UP in my system, or so Dr. Toadley said. Must… _ow_... have been... that tonic powder you gave me, back at the house. Getting drunk saved my life, eh?"

"You… but…" Lost for words, Luigi peered at the apparition in the dark. Was it real? As far as he could see, Mario's head, arms, hands, shoulders and chest were swathed in bandages, and by the shape of the bed cover, it seemed as though a frame had been inserted to keep it off his legs. He couldn't be imagining that, could he? "How… how are you?" he asked.

Mario groaned as he lifted his head from the pillow. "The ice, it protected me from all of the falling rock. I would be okay, if it wasn't for the frostbite. But what about you?"

In a daze, Luigi shrugged, and then wished he hadn't. His shoulders hurt. "I am good to go home, I think."

"Heh, I don't think so." Mario's weak chuckle turned into a pained moan. "You were out cold for four days. Now be a good little bro and get back into bed."

"Four days? Then four days here is enough." Luigi turned his attention to removing the tape holding the I.V. in his arm.

"Luigi," said Mario, "You don't understand. They had to resuscitate you. You were almost torn to pieces. Broken bones, a punctured lung - I know how fast the 1UP heals but you could at least let them check you over before you go. "

Luigi looked round at him in fury. Now he knew it wasn't an illusion. "Is everything I have said forgotten?" he said, doing his best to keep his voice down. "I am not a child for you to look after!"

Mario raised a bandaged hand in defeat and sighed. "Whatever you say, bro." He didn't sound like he had the strength to argue.

Luigi went back to picking at the tape. Grasping at one loose corner, he began to peel it back.

"But you should still have someone keep an eye on you," said Mario. "Especially if you're going back to live on your own."

Luigi closed his eyes to draw patience. "I talk to the professor through the T.V. every day. It was always the agreement for me to leave Toad Town, no? I will be okay."

"I am afraid that you won't have the Professor's company for much longer. There are things that have happened while you have been asleep." Mario caught his breath in pain. "The Princess - she has agreed to Toadsworth's advice. You see, Elvin is getting old and careless and…"

"N-no!" Luigi flinched at having spoken too loud. Anxious not to have alerted the night nurses, he lowered his voice to a near whisper. "It... it is everything for him. She must not stop the research…"

"It is all about security," said Mario. "The ghost canister - they cannot risk King Boo catching me for the third time."

Luigi pursed his lips and gave the catheter in his arm a tentative tug. He remembered Toadsworth voicing his concerns about Gadd during the interview. He'd assumed the answer would have been to send some trained Toads to keep an eye on the canister. "Mario," he said, "you must talk to the princess for to change her mind." he said. "She listens to you."

"Not this time, she didn't," said Mario. "And I tried, Luigi, really, I tried. They have too much to think about, with the repairing of the castle and of Toad Town. Elvin's research is not her priority."

Feeling the catheter loosen a little, Luigi drew a sharp breath and pulled it out of his vein. Blood leaked out of the wound and pooled in the crook of his elbow.

"Euch," said Mario, his head flopping back onto the pillow. "Did you have to do that in front of me?"

Luigi glanced up at him. "You did not have to look."

Without anything within reach to stem the bleeding with, Luigi grabbed the hem of his nightshirt and pressed it onto his arm. Blood-tinged 1UP fluid dribbled out of the catheter and onto the sheets. Now that he was unhooked, Luigi looked around for where his clothes might be. He couldn't see them. With no choice but to wait until his arm stopped bleeding, Luigi shuffled back against the headboard.

"I will do something. I will stop her," he said, although he didn't know how he could possibly change Princess Peach's mind if Mario had already failed.

"Hmmpf. Good luck with that, bro."

Thoughts of the princess led Luigi's mind back to the castle. Vivid images of the flooded strongroom and the growing iceberg flashed at him. "What happened with the two Toads?" he asked. "Toadlon and Toadette…"

"Alive and recovering," said Mario. "That Toadlon, he's a resourceful one. He says that while the water was rising he floated Toadette to a higher ledge, and so they escaped the worst of the washout… Aaahh…" He fell back onto his pillow, breathing heavily, his face twisted in agony.

Startled, Luigi sat forward. "Mario, what's wrong? The 1UP is not working on frostbite?"

"It's okay…" said Mario, through gritted teeth. "If this pain is anything to go by, then it's healing well…" Mario stifled another groan. He sounded worn out. "According... to Dr. Toadley, pain is... a good sign… Huh. I never... trusted him." He closed his eyes.

Luigi watched Mario for a while, deciding not to disturb him any more. Once the bleeding from his arm had almost stopped, he swung his feet to the floor and felt for the cupboard he knew would be at the bedside. Inside, he found a set of overalls and shirt he hadn't worn since he and Mario had first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom. He'd assumed his brother would have thrown them away by now, but he'd evidently not been able to bring himself to do it.

For once, Luigi was grateful for Mario's sentimentality. The Toads must have brought the old overalls from Mario's house, presumably because his current ones had been torn beyond repair. His tender injuries complained as he squeezed himself into his old clothes; he'd put on some weight since he'd last worn them.

Luigi glanced through the window at the lightening sky. Dawn was still a long way off yet, but still, he needed to get moving. He crept towards the door and looked back at his brother, unsure as to whether he'd fallen asleep. "Goodbye, Mario," he whispered.

Mario's eyes flickered open. "I… I wish you didn't have to go."

Luigi swallowed. "_I know,"_ he said, hoping that slipping into Italian would soften the blow. "_But… things are different for me, now. I don't think anyone can understand..." _

"_Do whatever you have to do." _Mario's voice wobbled. "_Just... please… keep in contact this time, eh?" _

"_If you promise you will never give up on the Toads again," _said Luigi. "_Remember what you always told me. 'We are Marios. We don't give up.'"_

Mario's eyes glinted in the growing light. "_Yes, we are Marios,"_ he said, "_and don't you forget it."_

Luigi nodded. "Get better, Mario," he said, moving back into English. "And go to the Pillow Island for to rest and sleep. No making trouble there, yes?"

"I don't make trouble, trouble comes to me." Mario raised his head again and groaned. "Stay a bit longer, Luigi, eh? The nurses, they change shifts soon, and they will be busy with the hand-over. If you wait until then, they will not notice you go. I won't tell."

"Okay," said Luigi, "but no more talking. Rest, now." He moved back to his own bed and sat on the edge, while Mario settled back and shut his eyes.

The slow increase in light began to reveal the extent of the sores on his brother's sleeping face. Luigi shuddered at the haunting flashbacks of seeing him struggling in the ice. Only then did it dawn on him how devastated he'd felt in that moment when he thought Mario had died. Ever since his time as Mr. L it had bothered him how indifferent he'd felt towards Mario, but this… it proved he really _did_ care enough. It was cold comfort now, though. The mind-butchering he'd undergone for Count Bleck's cause had taken its toll on Mario too, and more severely than he'd expected.

Luigi stared at his brother and shook his head. What Mario was doing to himself was senseless. Had he really been waiting all that time in the hope that the 'old Luigi' would come back? He recalled the moment he'd released Mario from that picture frame in Evershade. The mix of disbelief and delight on Mario's face. Mario shaking his hand so hard that it ached. Mario draping an arm over his shoulder like they were the closest brothers in the world. He could still hear Mario whoop with joy beside him as that crazy ghost took their photograph. He remembered how he'd been caught up in the euphoria, and Mario must have thought… must have really believed that he had the 'old Luigi' back again.

How cruel a shock it must have been for Mario to pixel-shift to the house of his long lost brother, who was being… well… like _this_… and to realise that it wasn't the 'old Luigi' who'd rescued him after all, because the Luigi he once knew had gone for good...

Luigi rubbed at his temples in frustration. If Mario needed to grieve that loss, then would it even be wise to keep in touch at all? Would it make matters worse? On the other hand, Mario's reckless decision to enter the strongrooms without considering the risks showed that the way he was now, he was incapable of handling a disaster on his own. He wasn't thinking straight any more. He was making mistakes. Luigi realised that Mario would probably need someone to watch his back on this Pillow Island trip.

A door-bang and voices echoing from elsewhere in the building broke his thoughts. He moved back to the door and peeped through the inset window. If he was going to slip out unnoticed, now would be the time. He opened it just wide enough for him to slide through.

"I must go, now," he whispered, "to fix things for the _Professore." _

He paused for an answer, but this time Mario seemed to be asleep. Luigi watched him for a moment to make sure, and then crept out of the room. Closing the door behind him, he looked back in through the window. Mario looked peaceful, but his own empty bed would be spotted straight away. He'd have to move before he was missed.

"Stay safe, Mario," he said, placing his fingers on the glass. Then he turned and headed into the shadows of the darkened corridor.

* * *

**A/N - Thank you everyone for reading, for your support, and especially for your reviews, because your feedback helps create a better story for everyone to read. ******Writing this has been a challenge for us both, especially since the different time zones we live in means that we were rarely able to work together 'live'.****

**We both hope you enjoyed The First Step, and would love to hear your feedback and comments, now that it is complete.  
**

**DarkFoxKit and Verran**


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